Dark Connections

Much has been said about the perils of children and online predators. As a recent case in California so painfully illustrates, no amount of warning or teaching can guarantee the safety of an innocent child. In July 2020, 13-year-old Patricia Alatorre was raped and murdered after getting into the car of a 24-year-old man she had met online. There are too many stories like this one.

But children aren’t the only vulnerable prey, serial predators aren’t the only danger and sex isn’t the only goal. The FBI is now investigating the recent attempted murder of the 18-year-old Holden White, a self-identified gay man who was lured to the home of a Lafayette teen under the pretense of a date and mutilated for hours. It is unclear whether this murder is the result of an argument or a hate crime [the killer told a former partner he fantasized about killing a gay man]. What internet murder cases make clear is that internet murder can be coldly premeditated or a crime of passion.

A Web of Deceit

Let’s first explore the serial predators. These are the surfers who are out for some nefarious goal. Murder is typically a byproduct of, or a secondary part, of the real agenda-getting some kind of sexual satisfaction. The predator coldly and calculatedly grooms his victim with praise, future plans, and/or sympathy to establish a false sense of intimacy; once the victim is hooked, the…